TIME’s annual Person of the Year issue is the rare magazine issue that itself makes news. When I started working at TIME, I was not prepared for the level of secrecy involved in planning the issue, even among the magazine’s editorial staff. As director of photography, I was one of only a few people involved in the selection and production processes.

Visually, the Person of the Year issue is an opportunity to leverage unprecedented access and push boundaries photographically. I have commissioned Dan Winters, Martin Schoeller, Peter Hapak, and Nadav Kander to apply their photographic lens to some of the most powerful people in the world, making images that simultaneously convey a particular historical moment and stand the test of time.

Included in this gallery are some of my favorite covers and spreads from 2010 to 2017.